A net worth that rivals some of the most powerful media moguls can be attributed to Martha Stewart’s mastery of the art of homemaking.
Before becoming a cookbook author and launching an empire unrivaled by any other woman in the business, the original lifestyle expert started as a babysitter, model, and stockbroker. Get to know Martha Stewart’s net worth and how she built her unprecedented empire from the ground up, from her recipes to her decor to her friendship with Snoop Dogg to her insider trading scandal.
Contents
How much IS Martha Stewart’s Net Worth
A $400 million estimate of Stewart’s net worth has been made. According to Forbes, Ellen DeGeneres’ net worth is $600 million, while Rachael Ray is estimated to have a net worth of $100 million. To put that in perspective, Oprah Winfrey’s net worth is rumored to be north of $2.5 billion.
How did Martha Stewart become Famous?
At just 10 years old, Stewart began working as a babysitter and organizing birthday parties for the children of New York Yankees Mickey Mantle, Gil McDougald, and Yogi Berra. She appeared in a Lifebuoy soap commercial at the age of 15 as part of a Unilever campaign.
As a model, Stewart appeared in numerous commercials, including some for cigarettes, including those for Chanel. A portion of the money she earned from modeling was used to pay Barnard College’s tuition. The following year, she married Andrew Stewart and earned a degree in history as well as in the study of architecture.
As a model in her twenties, “I knew I was good enough to get $60 an hour,” she said. It was not me who was on the cover. No, I wasn’t Suzy Parker. However, I should have been more attentive. Maybe if I’d had some kind of support system… Then, at the age of 19, I got married.”
More Martha Stewart Recipes Your Family Begs You to Make for Them
Martha Stewart Was a Stockbroker and Caterer
After her father-in-law became a stockbroker in 1967, Stewart decided to follow in his footsteps and became a stockbroker herself. The early 1800s farmhouse they restored in Connecticut was one of the first examples of Stewart’s abilities as a decorator, designer, and homemaker. Before starting his own publishing company, Andrew worked as the CEO of several different publishing houses during this period. With this connection, Stewart will be in good hands.
Stewart started a catering business with partner Norma Collier while still working as a stockbroker, but the partnership went south quickly, and Stewart eventually bought out Collier’s half of the business. After being fired from her previous job for allegedly not getting along with the rest of the staff, Stewart decided to open her gourmet food store.
Martha Stewart Rose to Fame as a Cookbook Author (With Some Help From Her Husband)
The fact that Andrew had hired Stewart to cater publishing events led to her meeting Crown Publishing Group’s then-CEO Alan Mirken. Following this encounter, Stewart collaborated with a ghostwriter on her first cookbook, Entertaining, which was published in 1982 by Clarkson Potter Books, a division of Crown Publishing Group. Martha Stewart’s Quick Cook (1983), Martha Stewart’s Hors D’oeuvres (1984), Martha Stewart’s Pies & Tarts (1985), Weddings (1987), The Wedding Planner (1988), Martha Stewart’s Secrets for Entertaining (1988), Martha Stewart’s Quick Cook Menus (1988), and Martha Stewart’s Christmas (1988) followed the success of the first book (1989).
Throughout the past three decades, Stewart and Clarkson Potter have published over 90 books, most recently Martha Stewart’s Slow Cooker (2017), Martha Stewart Newlywed Kitchen (2017), Martha’s Flowers (2018), Martha’s Pressure Cooker (2018), The Martha Manual: How to Do (Almost) Everything (2019), and Martha Stewart’s Cookie Perfection (2019). (2020). In addition to her cookbooks, Stewart was a frequent guest on television shows like The Oprah Winfrey Show and Larry King Live, which helped her gain worldwide fame.
In 1987, Stewart and Andrew divorced because of her success in the business world. As a result of their divorce in 1990, she decided to keep his last name because it was a crucial part of her brand (and “Martha Kostyra,” her maiden name, simply doesn’t have the same impact).
The Quarantining Experience: Martha Stewart Style! ‘There’s Never Been a Better Time to Bake a Cake,’ says the Lifestyle Guru.
Martha Stewart Owned Her Magazine, Then Expanded Into a Full-blown Media Empire
Founded in 1990 by Time Publishing Ventures, Martha Stewart Living is the best-known of Stewart’s publications. The publication, like nearly everything else Stewart had worked on up to that point, was an enormous success. Martha Stewart Living, her first television show, began as a weekly half-hour show in 1993, then expanded to a weekday slot in 1997 and a full hour-long slot in 1999, leveraging the success of her magazine. During this period, she also appeared in several holiday-themed specials. Until 2004, Martha Stewart Living’s show was on the air. Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia is the name of her entire business.
Martha Stewart went to jail for insider trading
If you had any doubts, this was inevitable. Peter Bacanovic, Stewart’s broker at Merrill Lynch, was accused of advising her to sell her shares of ImClone Systems stock just one day before their value plummeted by 16 percent, which would constitute insider trading. A year after being charged with insider trading by the Securities and Exchange Commission, Martha Stewart resigned as CEO of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia and her position on the New York Stock Exchange’s board.
For conspiracy, obstruction of justice, and making false statements to federal investigators, Stewart pleaded guilty and was sentenced to five months in prison, two years’ probation, and a $30,000 fine in 2004. After selling her shares in ImClone, she had to pay a civil penalty equal to three times the amount she saved by doing so. As the investigation progressed, Stewart remained unconcerned.
According to her comments to Parade, “I don’t consider that a mistake.” It was something that everyone did daily. These people are involved in the business of trading stock. The handling of the situation was erroneous. Although it is against the law, I have nothing to hide. Those who saw me as powerful and wealthy made me their primary target. That’s all in the past. If that’s how you’re remembered, it’s an injustice.”
Vitamin D helps make your bones stronger, boosts your heart health, and more. https://t.co/EfKdWpaxH0
— Martha Stewart Living (@marthaliving) June 10, 2022
Is Martha Stewart a billionaire?
In the year 2000, Forbes estimated Stewart’s wealth to be $1 billion. Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia’s stock dropped from a $591 million valuation to a $162 million valuation by October 2002 as a result of her arrest and conviction for insider trading. At the beginning of 2006, they were worth $330 million. Her market value has risen to around $400 million.
Martha Stewart has had a ton of product lines
Because of the success of her books and television appearances, Stewart has established herself as a household name. It was her exclusive line of housewares for Kmart for a decade including dishware and cooking tools and bedding (to name a few); some products were also available at Sears. It wasn’t long after her exclusivity deal expired that Home Depot, JCPenney, and Macy’s started carrying the brand as well. There are also carpet tiles, a craft line at Walmart, and an eBay store for Stewart’s merchandise.
For her cafe in New York City, she teamed up with craft store Michael’s on Martha Stewart Celebrations kits for party supplies and decorations. However, you can still get a cup of Martha Stewart’s signature java thanks to Marthas Blend coffees, which have since closed. The Marley Spoon meal kit delivery service is another venture of Stewart’s. Stewart also has a wine brand, a furniture collection with Wayfair, a branded store on Amazon, a line with QVC, a fresh food line with Costco, and serves as an advisor for a cannabis company.
According to Stewart, the majority of Martha Stewart Omnimedia’s profits are derived from her brand recognition. Products and publishing are roughly split 50/50 by our team. In merchandising, our profit margins are significantly higher. In our spare time, we enjoy working with our hands to create products. It’s our specialty. We aspire to open our own business. To put it another way, that’s how J.C. Penney came to be; it was an opportunity to open 700 stores within the JCPenney umbrella. Freestanding stores are what I’d like to focus on at the moment.
Martha Stewart made a major comeback on TV
Amid her prison sentence, Stewart refused to let it define her.
She also returned to television with The Martha Stewart Show (which was nominated for several Daytime Emmys) and even had her Apprentice spinoff, The Apprentice: Martha Stewart, after she was released from prison and expanded her product lines. She continued to write and publish best-selling books, such as The Martha Rules, which sold for $2 million.
Additionally, Martha Stewart has appeared on Chopped, Law & Order: SVU, and several of her cooking shows, including Martha Stewart Cooking School. Snoop Dogg, who first appeared on The Martha Stewart Show in 2008 and has since become a close friend, has collaborated with her on several high-profile projects. Martha & Snoop’s Potluck Dinner Party was a huge success when it premiered in 2016 and was later renamed Martha & Snoop’s Potluck Party Challenge. His cookbook From Crook to Cook: Platinum Recipes from the Kitchen of Tha Boss Dogg, which she wrote the foreword for; the Puppy Bowl, which they’re returning to in 2022; and the BIC Super Bowl commercial, which she co-starred in.
Martha Stewart Owns a Ton of Real Estate
Her Turkey Hill, Connecticut farmhouse estate, which she renovated, decorated, and restored herself, is Stewart’s most famous home. In 1971, Stewart paid $46,750 for the property with her then-husband Andrew. It was sold for $6.7 million in 2007 after she expanded it to include all the other lots on her street. “Turkey Hill was a dream place for my family and me for many years,” she wrote at the time. As well as educating us, it also provided us with sustenance and kept us busy in a variety of worthwhile ways. On that small piece of paradise, my life would not have been the same as it is today if I hadn’t learned so much there.
A $5.4 million estate in Seal Harbor, Maine was purchased by Stewart in 1997. Skylands, the mansion originally constructed for Henry Ford’s son Edsel, features a flower room, 12 bedrooms, and even a pink granite driveway. It was originally built for Edsel Ford. Also, she had a New York City penthouse that she put on the market in 2010 for $15.9 million before lowering it to $13.9 million.
New York’s Katonah hamlet is Stewart’s primary home base. She had a 152-acre estate for sale at the time that had an asking price of $15.2 million. Additionally, she owns a home in East Hampton, New York’s Lily Pond Lane, and a West Village apartment that she put on the market for $6.65 million in 2004, when she put it on the market. Stewart also owned a six-bedroom apartment on Charles Street in the same neighborhood as the one she left to her daughter, Alexis, when she passed away.
Read More:-
- Nicolas Cage Net Worth 2022: Biography, Career, Income, Cars!
- Kodak Black Net Worth 2022: How Rich Is the Controversial Rapper?
